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Today, we are going to take a posture of peace by embracing this truth.

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It is the joy of the Lord that is our strength.

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Posture is a short, audible fist bump to remind you God is with you in everything.

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Together, we're going to be emboldened to take a daily posture of perfect peace.

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So there are a lot of headlines and articles and social media content out there right

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now about toxic positivity or toxic optimism, and at first I was like, woof, you know, leave

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it to the world to make positivity a negative thing.

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But I want to say this.

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I'm actually not mad.

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I'm not frustrated at the world for doing this, for coining this phrase, for calling

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it out.

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Jesus is not their king.

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They have not yet surrendered to his lordship, so they are left to govern themselves.

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And in a state of self-reliance, yes, positivity can easily be perverted and cause major damage.

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Ultimately, self-empowerment, self-righteousness leads to destruction.

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Jesus told his disciples in Matthew chapter 16, he said, whoever wants to be my disciple

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must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.

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And then he said, whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their

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life for me will find it.

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If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you are in this world, but you are not of it.

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So do not adopt the world's language or mindset or way of life.

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It may be their truth, but it is not your truth.

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You are called to think on things above and you have been empowered to do so because you

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have been given the mind of Christ.

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This is such good news.

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There is no toxic positivity in the kingdom of God.

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There is only the joy of the Lord and it is a joy that strengthens us, not poisons us.

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As people of the kingdom, we have been given the divine authority of being displays of

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God's splendor here on earth and God is the most joyful being ever.

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We need to not just know about his joy, we need to know it.

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We need to experience the joy of the Lord.

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If we did know it, we would never be weak again because it is an ongoing supply of strength.

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This is not the word of some positivity guru.

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This is the word of God.

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Nehemiah 8.10 tells us the joy of the Lord is your strength.

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Now has it ever occurred to you that God could have chosen anything to be the thing that

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strengthens us?

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I mean, he is God.

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He could have made it a complicated formula.

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He could have made it a bunch of hoops that we had to jump through, but he chose his joy

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to be the thing that strengthens us.

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Our God is so kind.

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With this in mind, I want to read two scriptures.

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First Thessalonians chapter five, verses 16 through 18 says this, rejoice always, pray

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continually, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

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And then one that we've read before, James chapter one, verses two through four counted

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all joy when you meet various trials for, you know, that the testing of your faith produces

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patience and let patients have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete lacking

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in nothing.

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There have been so many times in my life when I have read these scriptures and not let them

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have any effect on me.

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Instead, I have defaulted to complaining or offense or bitterness or worry or rage or

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anxiety or fear or panic because I thought those were the normal responses.

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And I thought that joy was not a normal response.

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In fact, I had adopted the belief of the world and believed that joy was not a responsible

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response in a world full of pain.

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That joy was somehow toxic or inappropriate in the midst of suffering.

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But joy is the most normal thing in the kingdom.

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If you want to be a person of consequence in the kingdom, if you want to be a display

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of his splendor here on earth, you need to replace every negative with the amazing truth

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of God's words and promises.

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Jesus died to give you that right.

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He died to empower you to live like him and to inherit every promise.

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of God. 2nd Corinthians 1 2 says, in Christ all promises of God are yes and

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amen to the glory of God through us. Now notice I said replace every negative, not

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ignore, not avoid every negative. Jesus didn't avoid sick people, he didn't deny

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that people were sick or that sickness was real, but he didn't let sickness have

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power over him. He took power over the sickness and he brought healing. Jesus

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never let the negativity he faced in this world overshadow the reality of the

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kingdom and he didn't keep the kingdom to himself. He didn't leave people to

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their hopelessness. There's no new evil under the Sun. It's not like we're facing

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something now in 2020 that Jesus never faced. He was tempted, he was tested, he

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was grieved, just like you and I are in this world, but he did not let the power

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and negativity ever have authority over him. He was never displaced by evil. He

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displaced evil and through his death and resurrection he stripped all authority

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that evil had over us and he shared his victory with us and he gave us his

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authority here on earth and Jesus did not dread this mission. He delighted in

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bringing the kingdom of God to earth. Let's not allow the 2020 narrative of

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self-pity or self-righteousness rule our hearts and minds. Let's not lower our

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expectations of what Jesus's finished work accomplished for us. Things are not

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easy right now, but they are not hopeless. Things are not great, but God is great, so

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let's delight in his greatness today. Here's a headline for you today. The joy

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of the Lord is your strength. Today, wholeheartedly pursue an experience with

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God's truth. The promise of perfect peace is found in Isaiah 26 3. In Hebrew, it is

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shalom, shalom, meaning complete wholeness, nothing missing, nothing broken. This is

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who you are in Jesus because of Jesus. You are a living testimony of Jesus's

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ultimate win. With every step you take today, you're putting Jesus's victory on

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display and Satan's defeat on replay.